This day in history: A hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb was lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia, on this day in 1958, never to be recovered.
The Tybee Island mid-air collision was an incident on February 5, 1958, in which the United States Air Force lost a 7,600-pound Mark 15 nuclear bomb in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, United States. During a night practice exercise, an F-86 fighter plane collided with the B-47 bomber carrying the large weapon.
To protect the aircrew from a possible detonation in the event of a crash, the bomb was jettisoned. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost somewhere in Wassaw Sound off the shores of Tybee Island.
Some sources describe the bomb as a functional nuclear weapon, but others describe it as disabled. If it has a plutonium nuclear core installed, it is a fully functional weapon. If it has a dummy core installed, it is incapable of producing a nuclear explosion but could still produce a conventional explosion. Twelve feet in length, the Mark 15 bomb weighs 7,600 pounds, bears the serial number 47782, and contains 400 pounds of conventional high explosives and highly enriched uranium.
No comments:
Post a Comment